Seat has spotted the shift in popularity towards white as a colour option and added it to its Leon range.

Customers can now specify ‘candy white’ with their new Leon hatchback or Leon Cupra. Eighteen inch Orion alloys in black or white can also be specified with the Cupra.

Seat said the shift towards white as a car colour ran parallel with consumer demand for products like the iPod and Nintendo Wii.

Automotive paint supplier DuPont has tracked global car colour trends for more than 50 years, and in its latest survey is tipping white/white pearl as a ‘trend shifting colour’.

Karen Surcina, colour marketing and technology manager, DuPont Automotive Systems, said: "Our customers are looking at niche colours and effects. The rise in popularity of white/white pearl and the long reign of silver suggest that we can expect a more dramatic shift in the top colour choice."

While the UK still has a long way to go to catch up with the likes of the US, Japan and Mexico where white vehicles are the top choice, there is the hint of a shift towards the shade. Figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders reveal a gentle rise in the number of white cars sold here over the last couple of years. In 2006, the last full year for which numbers are available, more than 16,500 white cars were sold – up from 15,792 in the previous 12 months.

Steve Robertson, Seat head of marketing, said: "White really could be the new silver – when it comes to fashionable car colours, at least.

"Buyers increasingly want a car that stands out on the road, giving them instant recognition and differentiation from ‘me too’ shades such as grey and silver."